Gold Digger 05

Gold Digger 05 

Summary : Jetta is back. 

Did we miss her ?

No ?  Oh alright then.

And she  laments that she has become soft  and lazy  in  paradise, as she puts her son down to  train. 

However  her son is  kidnapped by Cheetah  who escapes with the  mewling mutt, through  a  teleportation portal, which stays conspicuously open. 

...Hmm.

Off course this isn't Brittany, but Tanya masquerading as Brittany. Setting her plans in  motion, knowing that Jetta in her rage will follow. 

The next  part of her plan is to lure Brittany away  from Strype  and teleports Brittany  to  the catacombs of the palace, right in the  path of Jetta.

Who is off course in no mood to talk, or listen for that  matter. 

While Brittany and Jetta  work over their grievances. 

Tanya  masquerading as  Brittany  has a few choice words to sabotage Strype and Brittany's relationship.

Unfortunately for her, she has  counted outside of  Dr Diggers presence who can see through her disguise. 

And gets a bead on Brittany in the catacombs. 

He materialises  in between Jetta and Brittany and Jetta  kills him with out a second thought.

This enrages  Brittany  to the point that Jetta is no match for her anymore  and Tanya is forced to bring Thabian, Jetta's husband in. 

Who is more then match  for Brittany, but is also more level headed then Jetta and  concludes that Brittany did not  abduct their son.

Jetta is in no mood to listen.   

As Jetta wants to finish Brittany off, Dr Diggers interferes, being not  quite as dead as previously thought. 

Credits :

Writer artist Fred Perry

Editor : Doug Dlin 

And you can read along with this link.

Best way to read it, is to download Comic_rack

And install Ghostscript

But Adobe Reader works fine too

Notes : Released on 1 November  1993

This is nominally issue 9, if  the mini  is  included.

Second appearance of Pojo.

Review  :

Like Gina  before her, this time  Brittany gets the spotlight. 

But is it  just as good  ?

Almost, but no quite.

Well no, that's not entirely true. It's a perfectly  fine issue. It's just Tanya's  motivation that  let  it down. 

Her motivation is both cliché and one dimensional  and not befitting the rather serious  tone of issue  5.

Because  it is serious, the  poor motivation of the main antagonist not withstanding.

We also see the  return of  Jetta and her husband Thabian.

A return  I wasn't really thrilled  to  see but  Jetta is a  worthy  opponent of  Brittany and probably  one of the few  physical  opponents that can actually stand up against her, at this point in the series. 

Most of this  issue is  a fight scene between Jetta and Brittany where Brittany is  hopelessly outclassed, despite training. 

While Tanya  plays the rest of her  hand. 

It's her doing  to  kidnap  Jetta's son  disguised  as  Brittany to move Brittany in  a  kinda  angry Jetta's  vincity. 

And to  try and destroy Strype and Brittany's relationship again disguised as Brittany. 

We also get to see  DR Diggers in action and  its obvious that he is a lot more powerfull, the he has ever let on  thus far.

This is a perfectly fine issue.

It's a great issue  actually. A show case of  Brittany's  personality with out  completely assassinating her character  and turning her in to a ditzy  valley girl, like later issues  will do. 

As well as reintroducing  Jetta and her husband  and showing  how dangerous  both Brittany and Jetta can be, when pushed  to their limits.

Brittany however is  more reluctant to kill, even when driven to a rage. 

As well as setting Thabian up, as the reasonable one. 

Then again in issue 4 of the mini he was already  the  more level headed of the two werewolves and  is a powerhouse, able to take out Brittany with  ease.

As well as  putting two and two  together  and  coming to the conclusion that Brittany  is not  the kidnapper. 

But Tanya's  motivation is flimsy. 

Thankfully however  she  immediately plays her hand right away,  and this  wont be a long running  plot poin.t

Unlike later issues,  where Perry  really  plays it  for the long run. 

There is very  little levity and very little humor here. 

Much  like  issues  3 and  4. 

Which is  actually,  what makes it  a  great  issue. No humor for the sake of humor no  gags or pop culture  references.

Just a story that can stand on it's own two merits.

And sometimes I wish the series was more like this. 

But then if it was, it wouldn't be Gold Digger.

issue 5  also  gives  a single page  to  Brianna,  Genn and  Gina interacting. Which is the only source of levity in this issue and even  this  page  is not as over the top,  as will become  customary in this  title. It's fairly lowkey  and mostly  just world building.

Issue 5  keeps the same high  quality issue 4 did, albeit with a slight misfire in Tanya's motivation. 

But  her idea is actually sound, nor does  the storyline linger.

It gets  going  immediately. 

The other misfire is not  the comic's fault. The scan  quality in the Gold Digger online archive is deplorable and hard to read. 

But it's a great issue non the less and  the third in a string of great issues. 

Gold Digger 04

Gold Digger  4

Summary:

Gina has  to take on Gravedigger, who now has  access to  the complete armory, while Cheetah  lies  paralysed for up to an hour. 

Gina uses pretty much every resource  at  her disposal,  from her  intelligence  to  displaying  here to unforseen bravery. 

To  trying to  appeal to Gravedigger and giving her a name and an identity of her own,

but to no avail  the curse  is far too strong.    

Notes: Released on  1 October  1993

Credits :

Writer artist Fred Perry

Editor : Doug Dlin 

And you can read along with the link provided down below.

Best way to read it, is to download Comic_rack

And install Ghostscript

But Adobe Reader works fine too

Gold Digger 4

Review :

Actually yes,  Gold Digger 4 is almost as  good  as the previous issues.

We get a  recap of the situation.  (  And yes, that  is a Tie Fighter in the weapons  hangar,  lets not forget what comic we are reading. )  Brittany is  most conveniently  paralysed for an hour, so Gina has to fight her own fight against Gravedigger.

And Gina is honestly wondering if  she made the right career choice and where she is going with her life,  especially because of all her mistakes of the last few days. 

But, as we saw in  the original mini series, her father is a master mage but she has no aptitude for magic and  we learn later on that her mother, is one of the greatest  sword fighters that ever lived and she has no aptitude for that either.

Her father was the one who pushed her towards science, which is where she  shown a born aptitude for that field. 

In dealing with Gravedigger, Gina shows her self to be resourceful. First  by teleporting security robots  in tot he  armoury to  distract Gravedigger.

Which are T800's and  ED 209's from Terminator and Robocop respectively. 

Keep in mind, that Robocop  was  6 years old by this point in time and Terminator 7  years old.

But Robocop 2  was only  3  years old and Terminator 2  just  2  years old, at this point in time and  still hugely popular. 

So it's no wonder Perry chose to spoof them. 

Gina then shows  off just  how  smart and how much  guts she actually has, by   confronting Gravedigger unarmed and making her think  she is nothing  but  a  hologram, while she is  actually there in the  flesh. 

Asking her point blank why  Gravedigger has  to  kill her or Brittany and she even manages to, somewhat get through to Gravedigger.

Going so far  as  to  giving her a name, Brianna a combination of Brittany and Gina, 

because that is what she is. 

But Gina also knows that Brianna can't resist the  impulses of the curse for very long and  she has got to be stopped.

Brianna's plight is  understandable, all she wants is a life and a identity of her own, If she  can  move the opposition, in the form of  Brittany and Gina aside, she can take their place and life their lives with their  memories in place. 

She is cipher, a nobody, a vessel for the curse to kill  the Diggers sisters until Gina reaches out to her and gives her an identity.

A name and with  a name comes an identity and a sense of self worth and eventually  memories and a personality of her own. 

Not just a combination of Gina  and Brittany but Brianna her self. 

Maybe I am reading too much in to this, but I am reviewing this comic, so I have to look a bit deeper then what  is  on the surface. 

And the implications of having an identity  and a sense of self worth, when you  are  literally   the two halves of  two  people  is interesting.

After al, where do they end and where do you as a person begin  ?

Gina  puts  up a good fight against Brianna, but  it all eventually  proves  for nothing. Even if  Brianna  gloats a  bit too much, but even that  is  a  personality  quirk set up from issue 3, where she becomes over confident and sloppy when she  thinks she has a weaker opponent  cornered,  apparently forgetting  that  Gina is  both smart and resourceful. 

Yes, the  eventual resolution is a deus ex machina  with  her father  coming back  in the nick of time, but  the curse is  magic in nature so he had  to  make a reappearance sooner or later. 

The curse it self is rather  easily dealt with and Gina, true to her word, welcomes her  new  sister with open arms in  the family.

Brianna will become a mainstay  of the series  and she is still around as we speak. 

Maybe Perry decided he  needed another  character,  another sister  to  play with the dynamics and instead of having  her be a third  hereto unseen sister, he decided to create her outright. 

Despite her  out of left field  origins or maybe because of them,  Brianna's plight is an easy  one to understand. 

Because who is she ? I doubt even she knows for now.   

 

Brittany gets a bit short shrift  here  in this story, because  issue 4 is Gina's show. 

The priestess from issue  2 shows up again  and is finally given a name.

She has  kidnapped a  unconscious  Brittany and plans to  do heinous deeds, most foul upon her  when  just at that  moment,  prince Strype contact her and foils her plans !! 

Curses  !!!

This  part of issue 4 is  less well done or well thought out.

 It is just there to  give  Brittany something to do and remind us Tanya still exists. It would be a better diversion if we just saw  Tanya  brooding  in her tower and thinking of new plans to mess with Brittany  and win Strype over. 

Issue 4 is  yet another excellent instalment. If issue 1 and 2  are a bit so, so.  3 and 4 redeem the series so far, the last  part with Brittany  not withstanding.

Issue 4  like it's predecessor has the right amount of action, adventure  and  actual human drama,  coming  out of the story  and the  characters themselves with out any  humor forced upon them.

Most of the humor comes  from  sight gags, The story itself, the comic book science  not withstanding, is played straight.

Although some of the humor is a bit too broad and too  silly for a story,  that so far plays it absolutely straight.

 ( the bowling ball sequence  )  But on the whole its a great story.    

And Brianna  is  more then  just  a  halfway  point  between Gina and Brittany.

Gold digger 03

Gold digger  3

Summary:

The bad luck curse is slowly getting out of hand, while the sisters do their best  to deal with it.

Gina by hunkering down to find a solution  and Brittany by shopping, something must be done about it. 

Gina surmises that she might have a solution by siphoning the curse off and injecting it in to  inert bio plasm, where it wil remain and unable to harm them. 

But  as  usual,   the best laid  plans of  geniuses and lycantropes oft go awry.

And you can read along by getting issue 3 here. http://antarcticpresslibrary.com/gdbw/gdbw03.pdf

Best way to read it, is to download Comic-rack.  http://comicrack.cyolito.com/downloads

And install Ghostscript http://ghostscript.com/download/

 

Notes:  First  appearance of  "Gravedigger"

credits : Credits: Writer \artist : Fred Perry. 

Editor : Ben Dunn.   

Review  :

This is a great issue. It may be in fact the best issue of the series thus far. 

That may not say much, considering this is issue  3, but if you  include the mini series and I do, we are at  7 now. 

And this is so far, the series at it's zenith. 

The story is interesting and gripping, the mystery the issue opens with is genuinely  intriguing.

Everybody's  personality is on display. Nobody acts out of character, there is humor  but  unlike  the previous issues, it's not forced. It's not there for a popular culture joke or a reference. The humor comes from the characters and it flows naturally from the story 

and the story is serious when it has to be and  it's humorous when  there is need for levity.

Which makes the humor work better and we, the reader take the serious parts of the  story much more serious as a result, because the humor doesn't over ride  the story  and doesn't come over as forced.

The balance between characterisation, humor, seriousness, pathos and action is pitch perfect in issue 3. 

But sadly, it's so perfect Perry couldn't keep it up for long.

The majority of the comic is concerned with the cold, in media res opening  and the mystery of the new character. Who she is and what she is doing there.

She calls her self grave digger at the end  of  issue 3 and that wont be her actual name, but its easiest to refer to her by that right now. 

Grave digger  will become a  major, major character  in this series. Even if her actual creation is a bit iffy and you need to tilt your head a bit. But comics and sciencem so you wil just have to take it as it is.

 And in this comic everything is possible. 

She is a combination of Gina and Brittany, but not quite. She, over time will get her own personality and quirks. 

Right now however, she only wants to kill Brittany and Gina whom she refers to as mother.

This is part of the curse, which is the whole reason why she was created to begin with,

like I said, comic book science.

She is a side effect of removing the curse. The original idea was to mask Gina and Brittany's presence from the curse and it would move to the bio electric protoplasm, where  it would remain trapped and harmless.

But the process released a backlash of pyschic energy, that imprinted it self on the bio plasm and gave it shape and a personality. 

Gravedigger in other words, well that would give anybody issues. 

But other then parts of Brittany and Gina's personality, she also  has  their weaknesses.  Such as Brittany's tendency to become over confident and sloppy, when she thinks her  opponent is weaker. 

Issue 3 is the most traditional comic book like in this series so far, but in this story it  works to it's strengths. 

The in media res nature and the flash backs as well as Gravediggers journey to self discovery, also  gives Perry a reason to explain the set up of the comic and tell us who everybody is. 

Issue 3 is so far the most reader friendly.  A bit late 7 issues into the series as a whole, but if this is nr 7 for you, you don't need a primer. But for any new comer issue 3  would be the first stop.   

And everybody gets some character beats to establish who they are. 

Gina is a nerdy shrimp based bucket of hormones, working on trying to figure out how to get rid of the curs.e

Brittany tries to  assuage her worries, by shopping and later issues will show her to become a  shopaholic.

She also has a ponytail this issue, which I like a lot more then the dumpy hair style she normally has in the black and white  issues. 

Even Genn gets some character beats, as he adjust to life in the  modern age  and  detects Gravediggers deception when they first meet her.

He also  briefly shifts gender again and becomes female. But not much is done with it, other then the fact that Genn has to wear Gina's clothes.

Regardless, issue 3 is a great issue. There are no subplots just  the  4 current main characters, because the story is strong enough to stand on it's own. 

Can issue 4 keep it up  ?

Gold Digger 02

Gold Digger  2 

Summary :

Brittany, Gina and genn  have to find their way out  of the temple, but it's never  quite that simple is it ?

All the major exits  are guarded by  death traps, while the  only  trap free path is guarded  by  the beast of Caerbannog  !  ...Or something similar. 

While the  curse  piles misfortune on and on and with the beast of Caerbannog in hot pursuit, can  the sisters escape with their lives  ?!

...Well this is still an ongoing series  you know  ?

And you can read along by getting issue 2 here

Best way to read it, is to download .  Comic-rack

And install  Ghostscript

Notes :

The beast  of Caerbannog  !!  will be back  !

Credits: Writer \artist : Fred Perry. 

Editor : Ben Dunn.   

Review  :

Gold Digger 2  has one of my favourite covers of the series. 

Not because of  Brittany's  dubious clothing,  but I mostly  like the pose and how she bemusedly  looks at the crab in her hands.

 

We get to a look in to one of Brittany's dreams, which is, uhmm interesting.

And Gina  watches along  helped with Genn's  esp, much to Brittany's disgust. 

I don't blame her.

It once again  reinforces the sister dynamic between the two. But Gina  takes up the bratty  annoying  role,  that's usually reserved for younger sisters. Brittany is the younger one here. 

But the dream on display here, is kinda risqué for a series that  tries to bring the cheese cake  (  and occasional beefcake ) But  also  censors it self  and  doesn't  use swear words.

Its a bit of an odd  dichotomy, because this comic is obviously not aimed at children. 

...Not young children anyway. 

We don't get to see much of the curse as of yet. But Gina explains that it snowballs. It starts off small and escalates, until it becomes so ridiculous, the Hubble chooses their foreheads to crash upon. 

And Brittany's shorts are sagging, which is an early indication of the  curse

and sadly a plot point. 

Off course  after  all the traps have been activated, last issue all exits have a huge amount of traps around them. 

And Genn's magic cant help them. There is only one  exit  that  isn't guarded by  any traps and that's  guarded by a most terrifying  guardian. The worst of them all  ! 

It's also 5 inches tall. 

Naturally  they choose for that  one and things  go as well as  you expect them to be, 

with the guardian being a mouse  !

The mouse guardian that turns out to be fearsome, has NOTHING  to do with the Beast of Caerbannog from Monty Python and The Holy Grail, y'hear  ?!

Nothing  !  *   ( *lie)

Back in the USA, we get another look at the Diggers mansion. 

Take a good look, because while it looks fairly normal here, it wont stay normal like that  for long. 

And a new sub plot  and character as if  the sisters don't have  problems enough as it is. 

It's the high priestess  of  El Dorado, who would have been Strype's partner if he had not chosen one before, becoming king.

Yes how dare he have a free will and a mind of his own, eh  ?

As you can tell, this is not a plot point of a story in general, in any form, I care much for. 

Hopefully Perry  wil do something interesting with it.

Though the priestess  muttering  to her self and  cursing Brittany, for daring to be not home while she lies in wait is amusing. These two pages are mostly  a waste of time and effort. 

Back in Iran, things go from bad to worse. The mouse is trashing them 

and their bad luck escalates  and I didn't notice until now that Nrittany's Nike's  have  ...bunny tails on their ends.  ..I bet  their are pink and white too. 

As if the Monty Python  reference isn't made clear enough, the Digger sisters and Genn turn tail  with a  RUN AWAY  !!!  Not unlike King Arthur and his most valiant knights. 

What follows is ridiculous, hilarious over the top  deranged  and  so very much this comicbook. 

The stairs to  freedom  !! (  ahem  )  prove to be booby trapped or at least not curse proof and collapse. 

The grappling gun fizzles out.

The deamon can throw fireballs  !!!  

The nylon cord, which can carry 3000 pounds snaps. 

As Gina and Brittany fall, Gina activates her  balloon back pack  and it  gets wedged in between  two walkways and bounces them back up. 

Brittany uses the  gun  as a  grapple and they finally get  somewhat save and sound to the other side.

And through it all  they  are remarkably unconcerned about falling to their death they just argue about  their misfortune. Even commenting about how deep this  temple is.

This sequences is ridiculously hilarious, with  fluid action.  In animated from it would be  gorgeous, but even  in comic form it's glorious. 

The curse is already kicking in to effect  and getting worse by the second. 

The sequence after  that one is a bit  more ..so so. 

Mostly because  the  black arms dealers are back again and Nrittany falls flat on her face  because her shorts slipped again. 

The car not starting however and Brittany's  reaction to that, which kick stars the car is what  you could expect  from  a comic that riffs of  cartoon cliché's. But its still funny even if it's expected. 

We also learn that Genn has no true gender and as a shape shifter can be whatever he wants to be. Male, Female, his normal form  or  something more playgirl worthy, 

which kicks Gina's hormones off.

And we  end with  Brittany  getting off another insult,  in the form of "You nerdy basket of raging biological urges  !!!"

...Bit wordy  for Brittany, especially  considering how her personality  becomes  more valley girl as we progress. 

And  it doesn't hold a candle to "Shrimpy nerd based  heap of hormones"   but  its still in the same vein. 

Genn being gender fluid is  only briefly touched upon and  doesn't play much of an role in the stories to come. But its an interesting notion  that shapeshifters don't have any  gender, that's rarely touched upon in any comic. 

Issue 2  is  better then issue 1,  but it doesn't introduce  the new reader to much of anything. You are just expected to pick things up as they go along. 

It's still fast paced, but  lingers a bit too much on the tomb. I don't really care much for tombs  in any sort of  fiction.

Now temples, especially of doom on the other hand  !

I could have done with out the dropping shorts gag or the  black arms dealers again,  but  at least we never get to see them again. 

As things  go by in a breath taking fast pace, you get the feeling that the  24 pages of the comic can barely contain everything Perry wants to tell. 

And this is just  part  2 of a 4 parter. 

Probably a  hold over from the  mini series. Curse actually feels more like a mini series on its own, then  an ongoing.

And maybe it was before Perry decided to go in the monthly ongoing direction. 

Which may explain why a single page, with a hohum storyline was inserted. 

Or maybe I'm just wrong and what we see was always the intent. 

Next:

Grave Digger. 

Sounds lovely doesn't it  ?

Oh and incidentally, yes that is the Thundercats sword of omen that gets  skragged  there 

  

Gold Digger 01

Gold Digger 01 

Curse Part 1

Summary:

Gina and Brittanty are lying on a cliff overhang, looking down on a temple buried in a rockface. 

Unfortunately for them, they stumbled on a black arms merchant deal. 

Off course shenanigans ensue, the sisters are  discovered  by  the black arms merchants and a chase ensues.

She sisters manage to  lose the black arms merchants and enter the tomb. 

As Brittany calls Strype via  a satellite phone, Gina by accident activates all the traps !

Way to go genius... 

Escaping a lava trap, the two sisters each go their  separate ways. 

Brittany encounters a shape shifter named gen that feeds on ethereal energies, 

while Gina finds a recording device.

So Brittany is responsible for Mr Peepers disappearance !! The spotted fiend  !!

She also finds  out how her father rescued the infant Brittany and that  the treasure is gone. 

But in Gina's infinite wisdom she picks up the  armband left behind, which triggers the  curse.

Gah  !  Way to go genius  !

And you can read along with the link provided down below.

Best way to read it, is to download Comic_rack

And install Ghostscript

But Adobe Reader works fine too

Gold Digger 1 

Notes : Strype's actual name is Stryypp, it's also  spelled in the comic as Stripe.

I tend to just combine the two and call him Strype.

Gold Digger along with The Savage Dragon, are  the two longest running comics by a single artist\writer. 

Credits :

writer-artist : Fred Perry

Editor: Ben Dunn

Review :

And now we are at the first issue of the ongoing series.

This series started in 1993,  2  months after the wrapping up of the  mini series.

It has been running ever since in various shapes and forms, including crossovers, mini series, annuals and one shots.  

The black and white series ran for 50 issues, before transitioning in 1999  in the color series.

Which has been running for  171 issues so far. 

With issue 150 of  the color series, Perry folded both series in to each other, turning issue  150  in to  200  and picking up the numbering from there. 

Maybe he couldn't wait till 200, he would have made it regardless in  2017  or so.

Regardless, starting this review, the reviews for Gold Digger till issue 199  will be different. 

I wont be posting any interior art.

The first reason is, that I have  a  lot of  Gold Digger comics in various shapes and forms. From TPB's to pockets, and those are hard to scan. 

The other  reason is off course, because the issues are free to read and download on the  Antarctic Press library. 

From now on I will be posting a direct link to the issue I'm reviewing. 

And you can read along with me. 

Now the preamble is out of the way, we can start  with the review proper. 

And,  ..well that's a classy opening  shot Fred...thanks. 

Get used to this sort of thing. Gold Digger is not above  dressing it's characters,  ( both male and female, but mostly female )  in skimpy clothes. 

The story is a bit pat, but it works well enough and  sets up things, if you overlook the somewhat questionable depiction of  the black arms merchants. 

Thankfully the story wastes no time with getting a move on.  

However it doesn't  quite work as an  first issue.  The comid  throws  you  in the middle of a situation, and just expect you to go along with it. While giving a few lines to try and  establish who is who. 

For anybody coming off the mini series, this is fine, but for newcomers it's rather confusing. 

Unfortunately, the ditzification of  Brittany starts right  here.

In the mini series  she was cranky, sarcastic,  moody, surly and not to be trifled with. 

In the first issue of the ongoing however. While she gets off some snarky remarks to Gina, but after that it goes downhill  quickly. 

Brittany  takes offence to the term lascivious,  ( during the middle of a car chase  no less and wants to climb out of the damn car  )  complaints about sand in her hair and fur.

Complaints about tombs being dark, dingy and  dirty and  would rather spend her time in a mall and then proceeds to call Strype via a satellite phone. 

None of these are actually stellar moments, even if they are played for laughs. 

And its more  like character assassination, especially after the way she was depicted in  the mini series. 

And you'd think she  is used to this kind of thing by now, fortunally after all that  the story picks up again and Brittany isn't submitted to any further character assassination to turn her in to a spotty valley girl. 

She is suitably unimpressed and snarky with Gina's self inflatable back pack for example.

And I personally think that hat looks rather fetching on her.

Pity Perry never did much with that. 

Brittany's encounter  with Gen and how easily she deals with him is a bit  pat.  Especially how easily she is willing to  let him take along, but then he does live in the temple.  And the old saying goes, keep your friends close keep your enemies closer,

but Gen as it turns out, will play a rather large role in the stories to come. 

The real centre points of the story is Gina finding an  device that so far has recorded all of history since it was made.  ( No Star Trek reruns sadly. )

And it  shows the murderer  of  Brittany's mother and  how Dr Diggers saved her life by happenstance,  by stumbling in on the scene  disrupting the killer. 

A rather dark moment in what is otherwise a light comic.   

Gina also mentions another dark secret. The fate of Mr Peepers her canary  ! 

 That's more like it. Gold Digger tends to  have mood whiplashes, it goes  from  deadly serious to ridiculous in the blink of an eye.

The device also tells us and the sisters, that there is no  loot in the tomb. It's all gone. 

It's been gone for two thousand years, something  Brittany finds hilariously funny. Except for one brass armband, which Gina naturally  picks up. 

Aaand that's where the title of the comic comes in. 

The thieves of the treasure are cursed by the original  owner and considering the Diggers sisters  picked up  the last armband, they technically are the thieves.

I foresee shenanigans. 

We will eventually find out what happened to Mr Peepers but not in a issue of the main series.  ( Damn it ! )  But in a one shot  named Gold Digger minus 18. 

We will talk about that, when we get there. 

The art is still it's usual well defined self, but it's a step down from the gorgeous art of the mini series. 

Off course the  art chores of the mini series, which was a bi monthly series in late 92 and early 93, could have never held up  in a monthly schedule, so it had to go. 

Things have been streamlined  and later on would be streamlined even further.

Right now it's just a step down from the mini series.

And that is what can be said about issue 1.

It doesn't  really work as issue 1 it works as issue 5 and it's a step down  from  the mini series 

much like another series launched in 1993.

The thing that brings the issue down the most however, is the  character assassination of Brittany and giving her some questionable traits, some of which are  still in effect. 

Can issue 2  do better  ?